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Friday, October 18, 2013

Now, HIV /AIDS patients can have life insurance cover

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDA) has asked insurers to provide life insurance cover to people living with
HIV/AIDS (PLHA) from April 1, 2014. However, the insurers said that the lack of
proper data about the ailment will be a hurdle determining premiums of the
product.

In the draft guidelines last week, the regulator said that the board-approved
underwriting policy should be kept in place by all insurance companies. It said
that a PLHA cannot be denied a life insurance cover, if they satisfy the
eligibility criteria mentioned in board-approved underwriting policy.

Pricing the risk is a major concern for the life insurance companies. While,
they have been asked by the regulator that the mortality study conducted by the
Institute of Actuaries of India with the support of the working group
constituted by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) could be referred
for pricing, which insures don’t find viable.

The regulator also said that the insurance companies can also take the standard
underwriting guidelines for life insurance products framed by the Life Insurance Council into consideration.

The biggest concern was that PLHA conditions are still not completely curable,
said a senior official from the industry, adding, “On one hand, while we are
finding it difficult to price conditions such as cancer, a product for PLHA
would become unaffordable for the masses.”

Further, the guidelines said the board-approved underwriting policy should
provide clear guidelines on PLHA and clearly indicate all possible risks to be
considered for underwriting, along with the eligibility criteria to consider
such proposals in terms of medical and non-medical parameters.

The policy should also specify all the risks that would be deferred and
denied/declined, it added.

The regulator, on the health insurance segment, said that if an insured is HIV
negative at the time of signing the policy, and later found to be HIV positive
during the policy term, the insurance company can’t reject/deny any claim, on
such grounds.